Video of ore dock demolition.

A little thawing on the landings of Chequemegon Bay

Warmer day with a little thawing at the landings.

Ice shacks on the bay.

Sunday afternoon at Mt. Ashwabay. Ski racing and visiting with old friends.

Scott headed up for another run.

The years pass but Kathy never seems to get any older. She can still beat almost everyone else on the hill when it come to Sunday racing.

Tim can still turn in a great time. This run 27:29 sec.

Scott enjoying the day.

Coach Kathy and one of her team members.

Scott and Mike headed up the hill.

Tim and Bob.

The sun tried to breakout in the late afternoon.  I set out today to take some outdoor picture. Outdoor sunny picture. I'm glad I had a "high speed" camera because the sun did not hang around for long. Still turned out to be a fun day.

The moon sure put on a great show at the end of the day.

Ore Dock demolition continues through winter months.

Demolition as seen from the north end of the dock.

Demolition as seen from the north end of the dock.

Demolition continues from the shore working out the dock. View from the west.

The USGS Research vessel KIYI.  In it's winter berth west of the ore dock. 

Future winter berths are going to be much different without the protective wall of the ore dock.  Protection from NE storms will be gone. The micro-climates resulting from the massive concrete heat sink will be gone. Additionally the camping area to the west of KIYI's berthing area will never be the same for the same reason. I believe that this micro-climate change will impact the entire community.

Camping icons all.

Thanks E & T

What a difference 12 hours makes. 62℉ @ 10:00 am. Snow @ 10:00 pm.

10:00 am - 62℉

10:00 pm (22:00) - SNOW!

A wedding on the farm.

Waiting for guests. 

UPDATE:

Below are a few photos I took at the wedding:

This is my favorite photo of the day. 

Bride with Mom and Dad.

Sisters

These photos were taken the day after the wedding. We camped in the farm yard.  Early the next morning I took these photos.

Imagine waking to this view.

Sunrise morning. And this view.

Sunrise morning fog. And this view.

Camping in the barn yard.

August 31, 2012 Blue Moon over Chequamegon Bay

This original photo was taken earlier this evening. It was taken with a Canon 7D with a Canon 100-400mm 5.6 IS lens. To see this and other Blue Moon photos visit this website.
To identify some of the landmarks in the photo above please visit this website.

Hummingbirds at the new window feeders.

Backyard: changes. Crops: fruits and seeds. Birds: variety and color.

This is our composting area. It also does double duty and serves as seasonal "toy" storage.

Our new birds feeders. Notice the mounting to the stump (drilled hole and wedged post).

I saw this little storage tip for the wheelbarrow on a TV program. Works great. It is built with a 2 x 4. This one is sized to fit the location on the shed. It could have been shorter (narrower). On each end attach a 2 x 4 block. The blocks serve as spacing for the front lip of the wheelbarrow to sit in. The final step is to add the slide bolt (at the top center) to hold the wheelbarrow against the wall.

This Morning Glory has grown along the driveway edge for years. The seed pods self seed the garden spot. Donna also hand harvest seeds each year. She gives them away to anyone who wants to have them growing in their yard. Each year we find them growing in other spots around the yard and neighborhood. My guess is the birds are dispersing them from our garden to wherever they travel.

This year we are going to have a fairly good plum crop. They seem like they are maturing early this year as are the apples and raspberries. It has been a very hot summer. Lots of days in the high 90's even some triple digit days. 

The apple tree only fruits every other year. Although the quantity of the fruit seems about normal the quality is not up to par. We have a lot more insect damage than in pass years. We do not spray the fruit trees by choice. We prefer to feel like anyone can safely eat the fruit directly from the tree.

We are thrilled with the number of birds we are seeing at our new feeder station. It took the birds less than two days to find the new location.

We are enjoying the variety and colors of the current visitors. 

This male Cardinal and his mate are year around residence of the neighborhood. We hear them 'talking' to each other throughout the day. The chirps and calls have increased in frequency in the last few days. The photo below helps explain the increased activity.

I was lucky to catch this photo.  Our kitchen window over the sink is high (eye level). We can not easily see the ground at the base of the feeder. I was watching the birds at the feeder this morning when the male Cardinal flew in perched momentarily on the crossbar and then quickly dropped to the ground. My guess was that the female was probably on the ground already.  I quickly grab a chair and the camera and managed to peek over the edge of the window to the ground. My first glimpse was of four Cardinals mom, dad, and two chicks. The mom heard me or saw me in the window and flew away. The dad however was to busy feeding the chicks to notice the guy in the window with the camera fumbling to get a vantage point and a picture.

This hummingbird was a little nervous about me being 2-3 feet away on the other side of window. We have to move slowly for them to land and stay. We are hoping they will get use to us and come and go without the additional caution. In any case we have seen and I have photographed more hummingbirds in the last 2-3 days than anytime in the past 10 years.

Changes at the kitchen window. Hummingbirds welcome.

Our backyard outside the kitchen window has seen some major change in the last week. First we decided that it was time to have the spruce tree(s) cut down for safety reasons. Their root systems were to shallow and the trees visually lifted the root system in strong winds.  We decide a controlled toppling of the tree(s) was far better than a storm driven event.

The loss of the trees included the loss of the bird feeders and the wildlife that visited them. So it didn't take long (two days) before we decided we needed our feeders back. 

A few dollars worth of hardware, a twenty inch long 2 1/4" auger bit and a nice new spruce tree stump provide the solution. Drill one deep hole in the center of the stump. 

Add a 2 1/4" eight foot metal pole. Level up the pole with a couple of wedges to secure the pole in it's new home. Add a 2 x 6", 48"long board. Creating a T. Add 3 bird feeders and ....... build it and they will come.

Add one..... no maybe two new window hummingbird feeders and get out the camera.

Enjoy our new visitors.

Now and Zen. A book by friends.

Now and Zen, a ‘cozy mystery’ by co-authors Deb Lewis and Pat Ondarko , third in the series of Best Friends Mysteries set in northern Wisconsin.

Humble Be Yoga and Dance Studio has a new location.

U.S.C.G. Cutter setting navigation buoys in Chequamegon Bay.

This is a yearly spring event. The arrival of the USCG Cutter. Setting and performing maintenance on the Chequamegon Bay navigation buoys. Today the weather in the bay is foggy. The photo on the left is looking toward Barksdale WI with low hanging fog.